By: F. W. Winterbotham

1978

Nonfiction

Rating: 3/5

Obviously, a huge part of this is really truly true, like the facts of World War II and Hitler‘s rise to power and the expansion of the German Luftwaffe in the 1930s.

But the rest? I’m not so sure. I can believe that it’s all based in fact, but Winterbotham is quite the man. According to Wikipedia (credible, I know…), Winterbotham’s much more famous novel about this time period, The Ultra Secret, “has been criticized for inaccuracies and self-aggrandizement.”

I don’t know much about the German air force in the years leading up to WWII, but I have a strong feeling that this statement is true of The Nazi Connection as well.

Also, Winterbotham is definitely writing from a different era with a different perspective on the world. For instance, there’s this quote:

My host explained to me that the indigenous homosexuality of many of the leaders in the Arab world made it possible to contact their lover boys and so find out from them who was concocting what intrigue against which protector, financed by whom.

The indigenous homosexuality.

Their lover boys.

Yeah.

But, that said, it’s really interesting!

It’s all about Winterbotham (of course), who worked for MI6, and his experiences in Germany, with Hitler and particularly with Alfred Rosenberg.

Winterbotham sort of assumes that you know a lot about WWII, which is fine, but he was British, so there were some references in there that I didn’t quite catch. He also somehow managed to write a novel about WWII without really explicitly referring to the Holocaust, which I found interesting. I’ll grant him that it wasn’t at all the subject matter of his novel, so it wasn’t really necessary to cover.

It was a different perspective than I’ve ever gotten, for sure. Which made this book much more enjoyable for me.

Just take Winterbotham with a grain of salt, and I think you’ll enjoy it.

*****

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